Re-Awakening
by MadameLovely
Summary: The (adopted) daughter of 2 scientists, Elise ships herself to Kirkwall to create her own path- and to find the origins of her birth. She thought she would just be attending school, but as time went on, she would discover that the truths she unearths could be the difference between life and death and just who could be trusted. In the end, is Kirkwall truly safe? Could this be home?


A/N: Total revamp of an old story I wrote in 2014. Really wordy first chapter, but just tough it through to the end of the chapter, promise-swear. Also: writer has played all games up to da:i. I am pretty well-versed, if I do say so myself.

Disclaimer: I don't own shit, obviously, except any OCs.

They say everything happens for a reason. And of course, I believed them. I knew that coming here would change my life - just no in the way it actually did.

The flight from Destin, Florida to New York was absolutely killer. Reason one: I'd never been on a plane before in my life. Reason two: I just so happen to sit behind the most spoiled, bratty kid with the longest set of legs that a four-year-old could have. Reason three: I couldn't even sleep during my flight because of this thing called chronic anxiety: what if I got to my new school across the sea and I didn't find the answers I needed? What if I hated it? What if I loved it and didn't want to leave?

What if they don't have wifi?

That last tragedy, I just couldn't think about.

I squeezed the new iPhone 5c my parents had gotten me in my small, pale hands - knowing full-well the world was about to get ready for the 8, but I wasn't about to fight them about it. Up until I'd started applying to colleges, my parents wouldn't even allow me to have a cell phone. Hell, I wasn't allowed to use the internet until my senior year of high school, if only because a lot of the schools I was applying at had converted strictly to sending e-mails.

I was grateful I actually got accepted to this one, though.

See, my parents, Diana and Florr Gascov, weren't my real parents - obviously. They had adopted me when they lived up in Canada. They had looked all over the world for places that would allow them to have children, considering they were two women. And then some island-country contacted them, said there was a little baby girl who really needed a home, and off I was shipped to my new family.

I love my moms. They'd taken me all over the country, as Florr was a local archeologist and Diana was an intelligent college professor and biologist. Which was also why they didn't want me to get addicted to internet, like my peers: I wouldn't appreciate the world like they did.

But even with a phone in my hand, I didn't really try and look at it.

That much.

I had all of two friends, both of which were in a group text with me, and currently sending me memes and emojis to get my attention and make sure I'd landed safely. But I was too distracted with the twenty-five hour boat ride I was going to be on in about two hours. I'll text them before I leave shore.

I wouldn't have signal otherwise, so -

Once we were escorted off the plane and heading to claims and out the door, I had to find a taxi to take me to the loading dock like now.

The traffic was already atrocious.

Only upon finding one and getting in with my two suitcases and backpack did I breathe in a true breath for the first time since I'd left home and pulled out my phone to text Lissa and Markus Kidd back.

My "skype" app - that I only just downloaded maybe three weeks ago?- went off with a group video chat request. So, without even thinking, I accepted.

"Hello…?"

"Elise!" the siblings exclaimed, their freckled faces both beaming. Even though they were two years apart as far as age, they really did appear more like twins - and were continually confused as such back home. They both had dark red hair, bright blue eyes, and the same pale complexion that could actually rival with mine.

"How's the Big Apple?" Lissa asked, leaning too close to her camera.

"I haven't seen too much of it. A lot of people," I told her, followed by a yawn and a rub of one brown eye with the back of my hand. "Some tall buildings. But I'm going away from the heart of it: not a lot of tall buildings by the harbor."

"Still." As she would crash on her bed, instantly swallowed by her pink, furry comforter. "What if you meet someone like super cute on the way there, and you have to choose between true love and a life-long career?"

I glanced over at Markus, face turning red. He wouldn't even meet my gaze through the camera.

If it wasn't already obvious, I maybe, kind of, completely had a crush on Markus. He was in my graduating class; I'd known him and his sister since first grade, after my parents' first round with Florida. They lived across from us, and I was in Markus' class. No one else would approach me on my first day, and one would initially believe it was because I was the new girl.

It was because of the scar-like birthmark that ran from under my left eyebrow, just missing my eye, and ending at my cheek. It looked scary but when Markus first met me, the first stupid thing that came out of his mouth was, "Did you win a fight with a dog?"

And best friends we became. Then his little sister, at his behest, came into the mix, and we were the three musketeers. Unfortunately, I only stayed for three years before my moms had moved us off, but letter-writing was still a super popular thing, so we stayed in touch.

When I returned right before high school, we moved into our old home, and our friendship could not have been stronger. With Markus and I, it was… more than meets the eye, at least on my end. And he had admitted to me that he felt… something, but…

I told him that only after a year of being gone would I want to talk about it. I didn't want his admission to be some spur-of-the-moment thing because I was leaving. I really wanted to make sure that he meant it.

Anyway…

"Hey, I'm about to enter a tunnel- and I can't really use the data," I reminded them. I broke the rule this one time because I really did miss them, and I needed to talk to someone who didn't smell like grandma's gravy or, you know, didn't have the legs of Hercules in a tiny body.

Reluctantly, we said our good-byes before ending the chat, sadness taking me rather quickly.

I knew a piece of my heart would be with them, but here, this new place, I was going to find out a lot about myself.

This was the that little island-country I was born in- Kirkwall. It would (hopefully) reveal a lot about me that I needed to know. And though my parents were opposed to the idea, they were also discoverers: they understood the need for knowledge if one could find it. And they couldn't answer all of my questions, so they agreed that I should answer them myself. I just had to agree to actually do well in school while I was there.

I had applied to be a vet tech, a two year program. If I liked the career path so much, I would go on to be a full-on veterinarian. But… I wasn't willing to be in school for ten years.

Maybe later.

An hour and a half later, I was at the New York Harbor, bordering both New York and New Jersey. Though I wished I'd taken an earlier flight, so I could go on a short adventure around the city before coming here, I also fought with leaving home too soon.

I paid the taxi driver, dragged my bags to the marker I needed to be at- only to hit the very back of what I assumed was a jam of people waiting to still board.

Damn.

Barely did I make it onto the boat, checked in and told where my "bunk" would be. I didn't expect it to be like the Titanic in luxury, but I also didn't anticipate it being so damn packed.

As I placed my things on one side of my twin-sized bed, sitting the cases up so I at least had room to sleep, another person came into the room, a bright smile on her face.

She had pixie short, black hair, bright green eyes, and porcelain white skin. She honestly looked like a doll- or maybe an elf? This would be absolutely rude to say, but I couldn't help but notice her ears: they were kind of- you know what, very pointed. Though they were cute, it was just different.

"Hello!" Her voice held that accent that most people I'd come across on the deck seemed to have. "How are you?"

"Uh-" She was talking to me as if she knew me. Or maybe I just wasn't used to people being out-right friendly. "Fine, thanks. How… are you?" As you could see, I wasn't accustomed to this at all.

"Great, actually, thank you for asking." She carried but one suitcase with her and stuffed it as best she could under the other twin bed. "I'm Merrill, by the way. Merrill Woodforest, and who are you?"

"Elisabeth Gascov," I told her, reaching up to unbraid my long, straw blond hair; it was starting to give me a headache. "But… I go by Elise. Nice to meet you."

'You too!" As she would lean forward. "You don't sound like you're from Kirkwall- or even from this part of America. Where are you from?"

"I… am from Florida." I wasn't about to turn this into a long tale of my actually being from Kirkwall, but I was adopted by a gay couple and moved to North America, blah blah blah. "I got accepted to the school out there. You're familiar with Kirkwall?"

"Very." Her grin widened. "It's not my home, exactly, but I've been there awhile. I'm going to the school, too. Maybe we'll be roommates there!"

"M-Maybe." Though Merrill was very sweet, I wasn't entirely comfortable with rooming with someone who was… so intense. But, it wouldn't be my choice, now would it?

With my hair down, I leaned back onto the stiff bed and closed my eyes. Even though it wasn't too comfortable, it was better than the seats on the plane.

"Oh- yes, you must be so tired. Just sleep. I'll wake you when something fun happens."

"Thanks?" What kind of fun did we want to happen on boat? I didn't want to find out.


End file.
